cleanup · Orleans County
Lyndonville - West Avenue Landfill
Lyndonville
Historic landfill and drainage-swale cleanup where DEC records identified arsenic, DDT, DDD, and DDE as constituents requiring control. Stormwater diversion, leachate collection, soil removal, a landfill cap, fencing, and land-use restrictions form the continuing remedy.
The documented story
What happened here?
The West Avenue record covers a historic landfill, an adjoining drainage swale, and landfill leachate that once entered the village industrial storm-sewer system.
Investigations involved several nearby industrial parties. The atlas therefore reports the defined DEC site and remedy without assigning every material in the landfill to one company or operation.
A village storm sewer once carried landfill leachate
West Avenue linked a buried landfill, a drainage swale, and Lyndonville's industrial drainage system
2000-2001period when diversion and collection stopped leachate entering the storm sewer
1978-1994
Odors and drainage complaints grew into a state cleanup record
State and local investigations evaluated landfill odors, drainage, soil, surface water, and the West Avenue stormwater system. New York reclassified the property as a Class 2 inactive hazardous-waste site in 1994.
2000-2005
The remedy interrupted the water pathway
Stormwater diversion and leachate collection separated landfill drainage from the village storm sewer. Affected swale soil was removed and the disposal area received asphalt and soil cover over a geosynthetic barrier.
Present
The cap and collection system remain active infrastructure
Fencing, leachate handling, inspections, maintenance, access restrictions, and property controls continue. Major construction is complete, but the continuing Class 2 designation does not describe unrestricted land.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
West Avenue residents report recurring sulfide odors traced to landfill leachate
The focused feasibility record preserves a direct neighborhood observation and the technical follow-up that identified leachate entering the village drainage system as the principal odor source.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Public-water extension and landfill controls protect the surrounding residential setting
The remedy combines cap and leachate management with monitoring and water-supply protections; current household-water claims still require current sampling rather than inference from the historic landfill.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency five-year review ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Chronology
Timeline
- 1978-1993
State and local investigations examined odors, drainage, soil, surface water, and stormwater along West Avenue.
- 1994
The property was reclassified as a Class 2 inactive hazardous-waste site.
- 2000-2001
Stormwater diversion and a leachate collection system stopped landfill leachate from entering the West Avenue storm sewer.
- 2005 onward
Drainage-swale soil removal, landfill capping, fencing, leachate management, and long-term site controls implemented the remedy.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- DEC's site-management plan identifies arsenic, DDT, DDD, and DDE as constituents of potential concern in landfill or drainage-swale soil.
- Earlier investigations described pesticide concentrations as relatively low and potentially influenced by the area's agricultural background; the atlas does not infer a specific source beyond the official site record.
- Landfill leachate, erosion, and direct contact with remaining material were the principal pathways addressed by the remedy.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The remedy removed affected drainage-swale soil and installed an asphalt and soil cap with a geosynthetic barrier over the landfill.
- Leachate collection and off-site disposal, fencing, inspections, maintenance, access restrictions, and property controls remain part of site management.
Then and now
The site today
DEC continues to list West Avenue as a Class 2 site. The cap and collection system control remaining material rather than documenting unrestricted cleanup.
The continuing Class 2 status makes this an active managed-cleanup record even though major construction components have already been installed.